A Rainbow Friends AU.
Orange feels like an outcast. He's the only one that remembers that one fateful day where everything went wrong and his life before that. He wants to tell the other Rainbow Friends, but he can only imagine how upset they would...
Blue continued to walk through the facility, scaring away small humans and staying clear of vents. Orange hung in his arms limply, still trying to get his bearings after the ordeal.
Eventually, Orange noticed that Blue was bringing him to the sub-level of the facility. At first, Orange didn't understand why, but Blue began to explain before Orange could open his mouth to ask the question.
"In the stalls. It should be safe there, Green and Purple can't enter this room, so we'll be fine." Blue said, stepping into the room and setting Orange down.
Although Orange would have been perfectly fine without the extra reminder, he gratefully sat down in the straw from one of the stalls, heaving a sigh of relief.
Blue sat down next to the Orange lizard, he remained quiet, simply looking off into the distance before addressing him again.
"Orange...are you okay, after all that?" Blue asked Orange.
Orange sat still for a moment, replaying the events that had just taken place in his head as he thought.
He couldn't say that he was okay, exactly. But he was certainly alive, so that was good, he assumed.
Or maybe it wasn't. Maybe that had been his moment to get rid of the burden that had plagued himself and probably the others for so long.
He quickly barred himself from thinking like that. Sure, he may have deserved it, but he wasn't going to let his life go to waste. He might as well do something with it.
Orange realized that he hadn't spoken for several moments and tried to answer Blue. He tried to say what was on his mind, but there was something holding him back.
Blue wouldn't understand, he would call him weak. He would dismiss Orange's worries and say they weren't important, only making it worse. He would laugh when Orange told him about his newfound regret and guilt.
But it was true, wasn't it? Blue would never understand, not as long as he didn't remember what had happened back then. But then Orange realized.
He didn't want Blue to understand.
He didn't want Blue to know the guilt that threatened to tear him apart. He didn't want Blue to know what it was like to constantly hate yourself. Blue was happy the way he was.
Blue was living in ignorance, sure, but he was happy. That was what mattered, right?
Blue looked on in concern as Orange tried to form words, but only stuttered and eventually gave up with a sigh, sinking even closer to the ground.
Blue waited for a moment before deciding to try and console the small Orange monster. "Orange, it's okay to not be okay. Especially after all of that, I would be pretty terrified too." Blue said, looking down at his own hands. Orange wondered how Blue felt about all of this.
Orange wrapped his claws around himself, he couldn't find it within himself to tell Blue why he had attempted such a stupid plan, but he could tell Blue what the plan had been, at least.
"I just wanted to try and control myself..." Orange muttered after mustering up all of his courage. Blue turned to look back at him quizzically.
Orange stared at the ground, not wanting to meet his eye.
"If I may ask Orange...what were you doing?" Blue said. He sounded vaguely frustrated, but Orange could hear the softness in his voice. Blue had only ever spoken with that gentleness when he was comforting Green.
Orange shifted awkwardly again, not liking the questions but knowing that they had to be answered. He let out a soft grunt as he prepared himself for Blue's reaction.
"I tried to control my other form. I managed to do it, but not before I realized that I couldn't defend myself against you guys anymore." Orange said, his voice sounded detached, even to his own ears.
Blue was silent for several long moments after hearing that. Orange could only assume the scolding that he would receive from all of his friends when they found out.
He waited, huddled up, steeling himself for the onslaught of furious criticisms.
But then he felt Blue's stubby yet firm hand on his shoulder again, and looked up. Blue was looking down at him with sympathy, not anger or hate.
"Believe it or not Orange, I also want to be able to control my two forms as easily as Yellow." Blue said, sounding slightly downcast, but his words were still strong.
Orange wanted to allow himself to be comforted, but he couldn't. Not with the way things were right now, it wasn't what he needed. Things were too complicated for that.
Orange stood up, shaking Blue's arm off his shoulders. Blue looked surprised as Orange did, not looking hurt, but concerned for the lizard.
"It's not a big deal, Blue." Orange said, turning his back to the blue monster.
He wanted to yell at Blue, tell him how he could never understand what Orange was truly going through. But he knew that he couldn't cause anymore of a scene than he already had.
"But-" Blue started, but Orange cut him off, not wanting to hear anymore.
"I said it's fine Blue." He said, this time with a lot of force.
He didn't hear Blue try to speak again, and didn't turn around. He couldn't face Blue, not now. He was such a wreck.
Just then, Orange was saved by the bell, literally.
A different alarm sounded this time, the alarm that signaled the end of the hunt. Orange sighed in relief, grateful for the freedom to roam the facility again.
He was just about to dart out as fast as he could, but froze again as he heard a new noise.
It was the speaker on the wall, it crackled for a moment before a voice rang out.
"I need to see all of the Rainbow Friends at the main stage immediately."
Orange glanced back at Blue, seeing the realization dawn on him just as he realized it himself.
